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SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL : 03/13/2016
TAGS: PGOV PINS PHUM SNAR KDEM GY

SUBJECT: JAGDEO TAKING CAMPAIGN TO LOW ROAD: ELECTION
PREVIEW #5

REF: GEORGETOWN 205

Classified By: Ambassador Roland W. Bullen
For reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

Jagdeo asks ABC Representatives how Election is Shaping Up

11.1 . (C) President Jagdeo summoned Ambassador as well as the

British and Canadian High Commissioners to his home on short
notice Saturday March 4. Jagdeo wanted to discuss the
elections and security. He said that he has started his
campaign. (Note: Jagdeo has not yet been officially
designated the PPP ' s presidential candidate.) He then
surprised his guests by asking them how election preparations
are going. Ambassador and the High Commissioners replied
that the Joint International Technical Assessor (JITA), whose
reports are shared with the GoG, has said technical
preparations are proceeding well despite some slippage in a
few areas.

Jagdeo already Slinging Mud at Opposition

11_2 . (U) Jagdeo used a March 5 address at Babu John
commemorating the death of former President and PPP leader
Cheddi Jagan as a platform to score political points with
core Indo-Guyanese supporters. Jagdeo exhorted the audience
to vote for the PPP because "I want you to know that the same
people who have to steal guns now would be given te guns if
the government changes". Jagdeo was rf erring to the recent
theft of thirty-three AK-4s and five Baretta auto-pistols
from a Guyana Deense Force (GDF) storehouse (reftel).

Jagdeo reportedly went on that "the opposition forces" have
o answer to the people "as to why they allow their friends,
their bandit friends to take over those people's villages and
rob innocent civilians." He did not offer any actual
evidence to support the accusation that opposition forces are
responsible for the weapons theft and the Agricola/Eccles
assault .

11_3 . (C) PolOff met with Alliance For Change (AFC) leader
Khemraj Ramjattan February 22. The AFC is a new party
launched in October 2005 by former members of the ruling PPP
and opposition PNC and WPA parties. Ramjattan is a former
PPP Central Committee member and there is no love lost
between him and Jagdeo. Ramjattan told PolOff that Jagdeo is
playing the race card repeatedly when meeting with

Indo-Guyanese constituents. Ramjattan said that Jagdeo warns
them not to vote for the AFC because its Presidential
candidate, Raphael Trotman, is Af ro-Guyanese .

GoG Sues Media Firm for Airing Comments on PPP/Drugs Link

14. (U) The Office of the President (OP) initiated legal
action March 10 against Vieira Communications Limited (VCL),
owner of an independent television station. VCL 1 s news
program carried comments by opposition PNC leader Robert
Corbin linking drug traffickers to the PPP administration —
comments that OP contends are libelous and unfounded.

However, Corbin's comments merely echo statements that appear
in the 2006 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report
( INCSR ) .

Comment

15. (C) Jagdeo' s intent is transparent — to arouse the

public's fear and leverage that into votes. His distrust of
the GDF, often expressed in private, is now bubbling to the
surface. The VCL lawsuit would seem frivolous at any time,
but coming just five days after Jagdeo 's slanderous remarks
at Babu John it is crudely hypocritical. Ramjattan 's
assertion that Jagdeo is pursuing a racist, divisive line in
private campaign sessions seems very credible. The PPP feels
vulnerable that they may not win an outright majority in the
upcoming election and will play hardball to avoid this
result. Unfortunately, this approach can only reinforce
Guyana's vicious political cycle of mutual recrimination
between the PPP and PNC and racially-oriented election
violence. END COMMENT.

BULLEN